Monday, July 8
Jason left early this morning for scout camp. He will be gone until Saturday morning – the longest he’s ever been away from home. One of the leaders asked if there would be any concerns about Jason getting home sick and we could very confidently tell them Jason wouldn’t miss us one bit. We pretty much cut those apron strings pretty early on in our house.
Jason left early this morning for scout camp. He will be gone until Saturday morning – the longest he’s ever been away from home. One of the leaders asked if there would be any concerns about Jason getting home sick and we could very confidently tell them Jason wouldn’t miss us one bit. We pretty much cut those apron strings pretty early on in our house.
I have lost my regular morning routine with the third week in a row with as we started our final week of swim lessons this week. Katie and Drew are getting so much better and more confident in the water that it’s totally worth it. This afternoon Sommer and I went to lunch together to celebrate our birthdays. Hers is actually today, just three days after my own. I had to leave Katie and Drew at home since Carly was babysitting for another family. Sommer and I went to Infusion which is a local place that we can get BOGO free through our prime card. Lunch was delicious and the conversation was great. I really value the friendship that we have.
When Carly got home from babysitting she decided to make some caramel brownies for a treat. Justin had her take them out a bit too early so it was basically a pan of warm raw batter but the family had no problem gobbling it up. Sommer also opted to spend her evening with me and Andrea watching an episode together at Andrea’s house, I love any time I can get with these two fantastic ladies. Andrea made some delicious brownies and her famous perfectly popped popcorn for a birthday treat.
Tuesday, July 9
Carly ended up securing a lucrative babysitting job yesterday and today, so she wasn’t able to do very many EPIC cleanings today but she needed to pick up several to clean tomorrow. I had a haircut appointment late this afternoon in Covington. Driving down to Covington in the late afternoon is the worst possible time to head that direction so I was a few minutes late which never sits well with me. My haircut today wasn’t my favorite, after she was pretty much done I asked her to trim up the front a little bit so that as it grows out it wouldn’t end up being too long, but by doing so it ended up being too short for right now. Bit of a bummer since we’re getting pictures taken with Justin‘s family on Saturday. After my haircut Justin met me at Chick-fil-A with Katie and Drew so that we could participate in Cow Appreciation Day. The restaurant was quite crowded when we got there but worth free food.
Tuesday, July 9
Carly ended up securing a lucrative babysitting job yesterday and today, so she wasn’t able to do very many EPIC cleanings today but she needed to pick up several to clean tomorrow. I had a haircut appointment late this afternoon in Covington. Driving down to Covington in the late afternoon is the worst possible time to head that direction so I was a few minutes late which never sits well with me. My haircut today wasn’t my favorite, after she was pretty much done I asked her to trim up the front a little bit so that as it grows out it wouldn’t end up being too long, but by doing so it ended up being too short for right now. Bit of a bummer since we’re getting pictures taken with Justin‘s family on Saturday. After my haircut Justin met me at Chick-fil-A with Katie and Drew so that we could participate in Cow Appreciation Day. The restaurant was quite crowded when we got there but worth free food.
This evening we watched a Netflix show with Carly called Meet the Patels. Definitely more of a documentary which wasn’t necessary what I expected but it had been recommended to me by a friend. Interesting concept about marriage expectations and how a family’s culture can influence who someone marries.
Wednesday, July 10
After swim lessons we spent the rest of the day at home. There is a noticeable difference in the level of volume with Jason gone and a lot less bickering from the little kids. Katie had a piano lesson this afternoon and it took them pretty much the entire lesson to select a new song to learn. Katie is quite indecisive. Drew did about seven or eight Boredom Busters today, he loves the thrill of the gamble and keeps the complaining quite minimal when he gets chore after chore. Carly and Justin went to the young women temple trip this evening (only 4 YW) and I fit in the late work out and picked up yet another tall stack of books from library.
Thursday, July 11
Busy morning for us today. Carly had her fourth out of five drives at 7am. We picked her up at nine on our way to swim lessons and then there was no time for the kids to shower at the pool after swim lessons as I needed to drop them off at home to get to a doctor’s appointment. Because my doctor was fitting me into her schedule on her OR day I knew I would need to be patient and flexible with her schedule. I ended up having to wait over an hour in the exam room for her to come in and talk to me. She was totally on board with my decision to have a hysterectomy and agreed that that would be the best course of action given the issues I’ve been having. Unfortunately, the next available date that she had for surgery is August 1. I was definitely hoping to get in earlier so that I would have more time to recover before my family reunion in Bear Lake, ID/UT. However, at this point I knew I would take whatever I can get, even if it is just six days of somewhat downtime. After the appointment I hit up several dining establishments to redeem some of my birthday freebies/discounts.
Wednesday, July 10
After swim lessons we spent the rest of the day at home. There is a noticeable difference in the level of volume with Jason gone and a lot less bickering from the little kids. Katie had a piano lesson this afternoon and it took them pretty much the entire lesson to select a new song to learn. Katie is quite indecisive. Drew did about seven or eight Boredom Busters today, he loves the thrill of the gamble and keeps the complaining quite minimal when he gets chore after chore. Carly and Justin went to the young women temple trip this evening (only 4 YW) and I fit in the late work out and picked up yet another tall stack of books from library.
Thursday, July 11
Busy morning for us today. Carly had her fourth out of five drives at 7am. We picked her up at nine on our way to swim lessons and then there was no time for the kids to shower at the pool after swim lessons as I needed to drop them off at home to get to a doctor’s appointment. Because my doctor was fitting me into her schedule on her OR day I knew I would need to be patient and flexible with her schedule. I ended up having to wait over an hour in the exam room for her to come in and talk to me. She was totally on board with my decision to have a hysterectomy and agreed that that would be the best course of action given the issues I’ve been having. Unfortunately, the next available date that she had for surgery is August 1. I was definitely hoping to get in earlier so that I would have more time to recover before my family reunion in Bear Lake, ID/UT. However, at this point I knew I would take whatever I can get, even if it is just six days of somewhat downtime. After the appointment I hit up several dining establishments to redeem some of my birthday freebies/discounts.
2 free Orange Chicken and Chow Mein bowls from Panda Express thanks to the T-Mobile Tuesday app, tamales at Café Rio with my birthday coupon, a free Nothing Bundt Cake for my birthday and a BOGO Nothing Bundt Cakes for a friends birthday and another for myself.
When I got home I reached out to the young women camp directors to let them know that I wouldn’t be able to attend camp as a unit counselor this year after all. I feel terrible dropping out just a week and a half before camp, but under the circumstances I know it is the right choice since I wouldn’t be able to serve as needed. I don’t remember anything about this afternoon, but I did go on some primary visits in the evening which was a nice distraction.
Friday, July 12
Early this morning, 2:51am I was woken by our entire house shaking. I knew immediately it was an earthquake and I woke Justin up “earthquake!” – he claims he was awake, but I remember otherwise. Anyhow, we laid there shocked and in a panic. My mind trying to figure out what exactly we should be doing in the moment. It was the strangest sensation. I’ve been in a minor earthquake before but this was much bigger and I think the fact that it was dark made it even more frightening. I told Justin there was going to be another one and within two minutes there was – smaller, but unmistakable. What really stands out to me is that there was a lot of noise – not sure what it was – the house creaking? Stuff jingling? We checked on the kids and took down a frame over Drew’s bed just in case. Carly said she woke up, but Katie and Drew slept right through it. It took me hours to fall back to sleep. So scary!
Friday, July 12
Early this morning, 2:51am I was woken by our entire house shaking. I knew immediately it was an earthquake and I woke Justin up “earthquake!” – he claims he was awake, but I remember otherwise. Anyhow, we laid there shocked and in a panic. My mind trying to figure out what exactly we should be doing in the moment. It was the strangest sensation. I’ve been in a minor earthquake before but this was much bigger and I think the fact that it was dark made it even more frightening. I told Justin there was going to be another one and within two minutes there was – smaller, but unmistakable. What really stands out to me is that there was a lot of noise – not sure what it was – the house creaking? Stuff jingling? We checked on the kids and took down a frame over Drew’s bed just in case. Carly said she woke up, but Katie and Drew slept right through it. It took me hours to fall back to sleep. So scary!
Katie and Drew finished up their third week of swim lessons today, they would both like to continue, however three weeks of every morning lessons is enough for this mama. I was happy to see that Drew passed his level and they are both so much more confident and skilled in the water than they were three weeks ago. Well worth the time and investment.
I spent a considerable amount of energy today second-guessing my decision for the surgery. I knew it was the right choice but began to overthink the logistics of it and he negative aspects that may come from having it done right now. After much stewing I came to realize that neither scenario is ideal and I would much rather go into the reunion knowing what I will be dealing with instead of dealing with the unknown.
Abigail was arriving home from Africa this evening! Justin and I made a bit of a night of it and went out to eat on one of his BOGO prime card deals. We also hoped to pick up a Nordstrom Anniversary sale order that I had placed earlier that day but they were seriously behind schedule so that unfortunately didn’t happen. It was great to see Abigail. She had an amazing time in Africa. She told us so much about it on the way home and it was awesome to hear the excitement and joy in her voice. What an amazing opportunity! I’m so grateful that she had the desire to do that and to save up the money to make that happen. It will be something that she will no doubt always cherish.
Saturday, July 13
Today was a cleaning day! I have tried to give the kids a little chore or two most weekdays during the summer so that Saturdays would not end up as cleaning days, but we had the Baumgartner’s coming to stay with us and so that required a little extra household attention. Jason got home from scout camp late this morning. He had a great time and survived the wilderness survival requirements of sleeping out in the wild one of the nights.
I spent a considerable amount of energy today second-guessing my decision for the surgery. I knew it was the right choice but began to overthink the logistics of it and he negative aspects that may come from having it done right now. After much stewing I came to realize that neither scenario is ideal and I would much rather go into the reunion knowing what I will be dealing with instead of dealing with the unknown.
Abigail was arriving home from Africa this evening! Justin and I made a bit of a night of it and went out to eat on one of his BOGO prime card deals. We also hoped to pick up a Nordstrom Anniversary sale order that I had placed earlier that day but they were seriously behind schedule so that unfortunately didn’t happen. It was great to see Abigail. She had an amazing time in Africa. She told us so much about it on the way home and it was awesome to hear the excitement and joy in her voice. What an amazing opportunity! I’m so grateful that she had the desire to do that and to save up the money to make that happen. It will be something that she will no doubt always cherish.
Saturday, July 13
Today was a cleaning day! I have tried to give the kids a little chore or two most weekdays during the summer so that Saturdays would not end up as cleaning days, but we had the Baumgartner’s coming to stay with us and so that required a little extra household attention. Jason got home from scout camp late this morning. He had a great time and survived the wilderness survival requirements of sleeping out in the wild one of the nights.
We met up with the Baumgartner‘s and Justin‘s parents at 4pm for family pictures. The kids did fantastic. She said it was one of the easiest extended family sessions she’s ever done. We were in and out of there in less than an hour. Hopefully we got some great shots! We tried to replicate this picture from the last time we had Fletcher family pictures taken in 2009.
After pictures Tami’s family had plans to meet up with friends but the rest of us went to Chick-fil-A for dinner. Grandpa Fletcher told the kids they could order whatever they wanted. It was like Christmas! I think all the kids got some sort of ice cream, whether it was with their kids meal or as a shake for their drink. So Yum!
The little kids tried to stay up for the Baumgartner’s arrival that night but it got so late that we finally ended up putting them to bed. Good thing we would have more time with them the next day.
Sunday, July 14
We were delighted that the Baumgartner‘s decided to go to church with us today. We don’t have church until noon so that meant that they got to spend the morning with us. I made a baked French toast for breakfast which everybody really seemed to like. Justin and I both had meetings at some point during the morning but the kids had lots of time to spend with their cousins. After church we decided to hang out at home for a little while before heading down to Grandma & Grandpa’s house. I made a double batch of copycat swig cookies for dessert. For ease of taking food to someone else’s house to cook, Justin picked up a couple taken bake pizzas yesterday for us to make for dinner at their house. Simple and easy. We stayed at their house until around 8:30pm. The kids played some games with each other and Grandma before we called it a night. Actually, it was far from calling it a night. We let the kids hang out and visit till much past bedtime that night. I think Carly and Jason ended up sleeping in the same room as Hannah and Hayden and stayed up talking until well after midnight. Abigail and Hallie went for a walk with Abigail‘s friend Chase and there was no doubt lots of visiting in the girls room that night. This is the first time we’ve had the Baumgartner family stay at our house since they always lived I Washington with us. It was a nice visit and we look forward to seeing them next summer!
Katie and Drew made this sign for our entry way
Sunday, July 14
We were delighted that the Baumgartner‘s decided to go to church with us today. We don’t have church until noon so that meant that they got to spend the morning with us. I made a baked French toast for breakfast which everybody really seemed to like. Justin and I both had meetings at some point during the morning but the kids had lots of time to spend with their cousins. After church we decided to hang out at home for a little while before heading down to Grandma & Grandpa’s house. I made a double batch of copycat swig cookies for dessert. For ease of taking food to someone else’s house to cook, Justin picked up a couple taken bake pizzas yesterday for us to make for dinner at their house. Simple and easy. We stayed at their house until around 8:30pm. The kids played some games with each other and Grandma before we called it a night. Actually, it was far from calling it a night. We let the kids hang out and visit till much past bedtime that night. I think Carly and Jason ended up sleeping in the same room as Hannah and Hayden and stayed up talking until well after midnight. Abigail and Hallie went for a walk with Abigail‘s friend Chase and there was no doubt lots of visiting in the girls room that night. This is the first time we’ve had the Baumgartner family stay at our house since they always lived I Washington with us. It was a nice visit and we look forward to seeing them next summer!
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